American fakes own decapitation in tape

22-year-old staged Iraq execution at San Francisco house

	Benjamin Vanderford, 22, is interviewed at his home in San Francisco, on Saturday, after a video he made aired showing his staged decapitation.
Ron Harris / AP

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updated 10:38 a.m. ET Aug. 7, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO - A video aired Saturday that purportedly showed an American being decapitated in Iraq was a hoax.

The American, Benjamin Vanderford, reached by The Associated Press in San Francisco, said he videotaped the staged beheading at his friend's house using fake blood.

Vanderford, 22, said he began distributing the video on the Internet months ago in hopes of drawing attention to his one-time campaign for city supervisor. When his political aspirations waned, he thought the video would serve as social commentary.

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Image: Decapitation hoax video.
AP
Benjamin Vanderford from San Francisco is seen in a video in which he pretends to be decapitated in Iraq.
"It was part of a stunt, but no one noticed it up until now," Vanderford said. "I did this for a couple of reasons. One is to attract attention. But two is to just make a statement on these type of videos and how easily they can be faked."

On the tape, Vanderford sat on a chair in a dark room, his hands behind his back, trembling and rocking back and forth. The tape showed a hand with a knife cutting at the motionless man's neck, but did not show any militants.

"We need to leave this country alone. We need to stop this occupation," he said on the video, adding that he had been offered for exchange with prisoners in Iraq. "Everyone's going to be killed this way."